Home of Record City PHILADELPHIA
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Panel 13E
Line 117

ROBERT LEE SIMPKINS

Army - PFC - E3

Age:

19

Race:

Negro

Sex:

Male

Date of Birth

Dec 10, 1947

From:

PHILADELPHIA, PA

Religion:

BAPTIST

Marital Status:

Single

PFC - E3 - Army - Regular
1st Log CMD

Length of service 1 years
His tour began on Jun 18, 1966
Casualty was on Jan 5, 1967
In , SOUTH VIETNAM
NON-HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
Body was recovered

Comments/Citation

Robert and I slept in the same tent and worked together for most of our tour.I believe we were the 2 youngest guys in the company.We were assigned to the 538th Engr Det.in Nha Trang.We fixed const equip. and generators and some of us went on the road to help build living compounds for other GIs.Robert was hard working and fun,we often joked around together.I've missed him all my life

A Germantown High School graduate, Simpkins had planned to make the Army a career when he enlisted in October 1965. The 19-year-old private first class, a heavy equipment operator and engineer equipment repairman, was assigned to Headquarters and Maintenance Support Company of the 63rd Maintenance Battalion, in Vietnam. He died on January 5, 1967, as the result of non-hostile action. Survivors included his parents, two brothers and three sisters. Simpkins lived on Bringhurst Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Source: The Philadelphia Daily News

The body of a Philadelphia soldier killed in Vietnam will be escorted home in a few days by an uncle with whom he had a joyful reunion in the war torn Asian nation only a few weeks ago. Army Pfc. Robert L. Simpkins Jr., 19, of 279 E. Bringhurst st., was killed during fighting last Thursday. Escorting the body home will be Pfc. Derwood Hankinson, 21, of 246 Christian st.

HELD SUPERVISOR'S JOB

Pfc. Simpkins, who had been in Vietnam since June, had been assigned to the 63rd Motor unit. His father, Robert L. Sr., said that his son was attached to a military base as a supervisor of civilian workers in the repair of electronic generators.
He was graduated from Germantown High School in June, 1965, and entered the Army the following September.
Surviving in addition to his father are his mother, Verna; two brothers, Jan, 17, and Cornelius, 12, and three sisters, Velma, 21, Beth, 4, and Melissa, 2.

Photo and articlee appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on January 10, 1967. The other Philadelphia GI mentioned in the article was Marine LCPL John J. Murphy.

I was stationed with PFC Simpkins at Headquarters 163rd. Maintenance Battalion in the Nha Trang SubArea Command. His death was a shock to the other guys in our group. The VC had tried to overrun our area during the TeT Holiday season. It is very sad that Robert gave his life and then our country and our President decided that we had made a mistake by going there to support FREEDOM of a people.